Weeks til ‘urgent’ third-level talks can take place

TDs and Senators will not begin considering where the €1bn needed to secure the future of the third-level education system should come from until next month at the earliest.

While university presidents called for urgent decisions to be made on the options put forward in a report in July, Education Minister Richard Bruton will not bring any proposals to Cabinet before political consensus is reached.

However, the Oireachtas Education Committee, to which he has referred it, will not begin to deal with it for several weeks. Chairwoman Fiona O’Loughlin, a Fianna Fáil TD, said the Cassells report is a key issue for all members of the cross-party committee, but a number of issues had come in front of it on their agenda.